Category Archives: Eric Cruikshank; Ian Kane

Ian Kane and Eric Cruikshank – September 2016

Ian Kane

Ian Kane is a spatial artist working from his studio in Dalcross, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. He has exhibited nationally and internationally since studying Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art and completing a post-graduate degree in the 1970s. A Scottish Young Contemporaries Prize-winner in 1984, his works have been shown in the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Norway, Canada and Japan.

Ian Kane, Seeing is believing

Ian Kane, Seeing is believing

 

‘Curiosity and the spirit of enquiry into what exists is always the starting point for the work. This preoccupation with reflecting the truth of the world and our place in it is the work of the artist. The work changes as we ourselves change. The artist strives to find ways to produce the works that become signifiers of our time. The making of every piece is a re-learning; the bringing together of the conscious and the unconscious. Memory does not help here as the presentness of the work generates its own problems to be resolved’

https://spark.adobe.com/page/wcrwajr059abC/

 

Eric Cruikshank

As to the situation of the colours, the purest and strongest must be placed in front of the piece, and the colouring varied according to subject, time and place. If the subject be grave, melancholy or terrible, the general tint of the colouring must incline to brown or black, or red and gloomy; but it must be gay and pleasant in subjects of joy or triumph.

Encyclopedia Britannica or A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, edited by William Smellie, Edinburgh 1771

Eric Cruikshank  Number 9 -  Deep-Scarlet-Red-Pomplean-Red; 2016 Coloured Pencil on Paper, 19 cm x 28cm

Eric Cruikshank Number 9 – Deep-Scarlet-Red-Pomplean-Red; 2016 Coloured Pencil on Paper, 19 cm x 28cm

The Scottish artist Eric Cruikshank is a modern painter. Born in a country and into a culture with a strong narrative tradition, his work departs from customary figuration, yet revels in the craft and artisanship of his chosen medium. Instead of portraying famous men, it analyses the qualities of colour and light. Instead of imitating landscapes, it explores notions of painterly space. And instead of illustrating stories, it investigates the process of painting itself. More than anything, this approach relies on the individual viewer. Our perceptions of colour, light and space are not only dependent on the painting – they are just as much dependent on the conditions in which we perceive it. Changes in lighting, spatial arrangement, distance to the object, subjective mood of the beholder and even the time spent with the artwork, become constituting factors in understanding it. Instead of a mere consumer of a pre-packaged story, the beholder becomes participant observer.

 

Eric Cruikshank, Number 3; Light-Yellow-Glaze-Warm-Grey-II; 2016, Coloured Pencil on Paper; 19cm 28 cm.

Eric Cruikshank, Number 3; Light-Yellow-Glaze-Warm-Grey-II; 2016, Coloured Pencil on Paper; 19cm 28 cm.

CONTINUUM – Eric Cruikshank & Ian Kane- September 2016

Announcing the upcoming show with painter Eric Cruikshank and sculptor Ian Kane.

16.09 – 24.09.2016                                                                                                                                           Preview Thursday 15.09.2016               from 6 pm                                                                                     Opening times                                         Saturdays  2 – 6 pm                                                                                                                                        Mo – Fri.  by appointment                                                                                                                              T- 0207 2676267

 

Eric Cruikshank, Untitled, 2016

Eric Cruikshank, Untitled, 2016

Both artists are based in Scotland and have previously exhibited together.  In ‘Continuum’ we will see new works amongst other aspects shaped by the Scottish landscape and light.

Ian Kane, Seeing is believing

Ian Kane, Seeing is believing

Ian Kane

http://www.iankaneartist.com

The artist is a collector; fragments of seeing, ideas, observations, experience, accumulated knowledge eventually come together to form a visual reality.

The making of every piece is a re-learning, the bringing together of the conscious and the unconscious. Memory does not help here as the present (ness) of the work generates its own immediate problems to be resolved.

"work-will-set-you-free" , 2016

Ian Kane ,”work-will-set-you-free” , 2016

Curiosity and the spirit of enquiry into what exists is always the starting point of my work. This preoccupation with reflecting the truth of the world and our place in it is the work of the artist. The work changes as we ourselves change. The artist strives to find ways to produce works that become signifiers of our time. For me this process is constant research, the outcome becomes the work.

CONTINUUM RAUMX

My work tends to be contemplative in nature as a result of living in the landscape of the Scottish Highlands. I feel that this influence is in the mix giving the work a poetic quality.

Ian Kane

Ian Kane, Complete,2016

‘Complete’

The flat floor work started as a piece of plywood shuttering, which I found as flotsam on the banks of the Moray Firth. The white part, made from epoxy, exactly completes the work in every detail while still allowing difference. The work ever so slightly hovers above the floor.

‘Above and Below’

This piece is carved from a piece of cherry wood and is very precarious given the weight of the wood on top.

‘Work Will Set You Free’

The last floor work adds a note of humour to the show being a truly ridiculous object. The wheels are made of sandstone and the natural form that holds them in place is a piece of sycamore encased with resin. Although sycamore trees are seen often as weeds harp makers prize the wood.

Seeing is Believing’

The ‘Seeing is Believing’ piece has at its core a knowingness and an unknowingness, we know what the red covers but we also do not know. We see but we do not allow ourselves to believe.

 

Eric Cruikshank

http://www.ericcruikshank.com/

Untitled, 2016, Oil on Two Boards, 91.5cm x 156cm (with split).

Eric Cruikshank, Untitled, 2016 Oil on two Boards, 91.5 cm x 156 cm ( with split)

Eric Cruikshank, Untitled, 2016

Eric Cruikshank, Untitled, 2016

 

Taking landscape as an initial starting point, my paintings are not about literal presentation; instead the focus is on the emotive qualities of place. Using an objective palette tied to the Scottish landscape, colour acts as a vehicle to reveal the picture planes underlying points of reference. With the structure, design, and colour harmony being grounded in the everyday, the viewer is encouraged to readdress notions of their surroundings, where the familiar is opened up and made full of possibility.

With the works coming out of the territory of traditional art and values, through process and presentation, a dialogue opens up between the past and present, the historical and the contemporary. Despite an allusion to the social, spiritual and material contexts within the field of my art, the principal criteria always come back to the base construct elements. Shape, colour, and surface build the foundational support and elevate the works concepts, allowing the viewer to uncover layers of potential meaning as each element is considered. In the absence of imagery or narrative, the panels are left open to interpretation, as an almost blank plane to reflect the viewers own emotions and ideas.

By applying the paint in thinly layered colour bands, and utilising a subtraction technique, the surface is worked until a balance is reached. The delicate forms that remain give the effect of a monochromatic finish when first viewed. Through the resulting veil of paint, shimmering traces of tone flicker on the edge of focus, where the surface holds the gentlest luminosity and modulating volume. The works are completed with a meticulous level of control, creating a plane that bears no brush marks, removing evidence of the hand of the artist and any imprint of technique. With this removal, the colour field comes under closer scrutiny – on approaching the work, colour pulses in constantly shifting patterns, on withdrawing, these patterns blend, bleed and fuse into a vibrant continuous field, inviting a highly tuned visual attentiveness. The refined shade and contour lead the eye around the piece, gently engaging the viewer in the act of seeing, where their relationship with the work is one of continual change, as the ethereal surface vibrates with an inner light and rhythm that appears to expand outwards beyond the border, activating the space around and between the pieces